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By JOHN COX 

 lAA Director of Rural School Relcrtlons 



Dedicated to the improvement of rural edu- 

 cation, this column will include varied items 

 of possible interest to parents and patrons of 

 our rural schools. 



E. H. Lukenbill, county superintendent uf 

 schools in Logan county, on June 6 reported 

 on the first four votes on reorganization in 

 that county. They were all favorable by 

 from 2 to 1 to 10 to 1 majorities. He said 

 the enrollments in the four schools ranged 

 from 100 to 257 pupils and the assessed 

 valuation from $1,488,000 to $3,918,000 in 

 the largest district. A more recent report 

 states that five out of seven proposals for 

 consolidation in that county were acceptable 

 to the people. 



Also early in the summer a letter came 

 from Clem Carton, a Farm Bureau leader 

 for many years in Logan county and now 

 chairman of their County School Survey 

 Committee. The letter, though expressing 

 a slightly different opinion from that held 

 by leaders in several other counties with 

 reference to the unit district, is full of com- 

 mon sense and describes one type of ap- 

 proach to school reorganization. 



"My dear friend: 



"I feel the time is opportune to write 

 you about our progress on school survey re- 

 organization of schools in Logan county and 

 also some of the fixed ideals of the mem- 

 bers of the survey committee as evolved 

 from meetings and contact with the rural 

 people. 



"As you see, we have about one-third 

 of the rural schools of Logan county con- 

 solidated into administrative units. Be- 

 sides there will be elections held soon in 

 Hartsburg and country-side, also Emden and 

 country-side for two more units. 



"Committees have been chosen at meet- 

 ings held in West Lincoln township and 

 New Holland community to proceed in ac- 

 tion for consolidation. 



"We have meetings scheduled to be held 

 in the near future at Broadwell, Elkhart, 

 Cornland, and Middletown. When these 

 are held, we have canvassed the entire coun- 

 ty on our initial program of reorganization 

 of rural schools. What high school prob- 

 lems we may have, also non-high school 

 territory, we shall tackle this winter when 

 the days are short and the nights lone. We 

 find at these meetings, it is midnight or 

 1 :00 a.m. when we get home. This is hard 

 on weary farmers. However, I must say as 

 chairman, I have a wide-awake enthusiastic 

 board to cooperate with and our secretary. 

 Mr. -Lukenbill. There, is none better. 



"Here are our fundamental precepts in 

 rural school reorganization in Logan county. 



"We wish to establish districts of some 

 two jnillion' dollars assessed valuation (old 

 rate) as much as we can, so that the tax 

 rate need not be exorbitant ajid yet have 

 modem edutational facilities. / 



"We wish pur district to be la;;ge enough 

 financially, yet small enough that pupils can 



SEPTEMBER. 1946 .- .' , 



be quickly transported to school without 

 spending too much time on the bus. 



"We strive for a four-teacher staflf and 

 around 100 pupils as our minimum. That 

 is a teacher for every two grades. Of 

 course, in towns like Mt. Pulaski and At- 

 lanta, there will be more teachers and in 

 a limited few at present there may be less 

 than four teachers. 



"We advise the teaching of music both 

 vocal and instrumental in our consolidated 

 schools. Two school units may arrange the 

 employment of a music teacher when they 

 really get functioning with a centralized 

 school. We are also looking forward to a 

 county wide system of motion pictures — 

 visual education — in the years to come. 



"We take the viewpoint, that our small 

 urban towns of Logan county are logical 

 rural community centers, the place where 

 rural people trade and go to church and 

 therefore, make ideal centers for rural 

 schools. In this way, we can preserve the 

 rural environment, social contact, and farm- 

 er domination of our rural schools. 



"By preaching this kind of gospel, 

 coupled with the fact, that with consolida- 

 tion pupils will have competition in class, 

 we can offer distinct advantages to rural 

 people. Also with a teacher for every two 

 grades each teacher will have fewer classes 

 and more time to give for recitation and 

 study periods than is found today in so 

 many of our one-room schools where a 

 teacher may actually be teaching all grades, 

 first to eighth, involving 25 to 30 classes a 

 day with a 10 minute period for recitation. 



"We are taking this survey to the people, 

 and when these facts are so forcibly pre- 

 sented by actual charts on enrollment and 

 financial resources, the reaction is an awak- 

 ening of our rural folks. 



"We do not advocate at present time the 

 unit system in Logan county. We think it 

 is impractical and the people are not ready 

 for it and will not accept it. 



"Our high school districts were laid out 

 in a frenzied grab for territory. We cannot 

 make our rural grade consolidation conform 

 with high school boundaries. Nor can we 

 vice versa, cut off high school boundaries 

 to conform with rural community centers. 

 However, in matters of transportation there 

 can and will be mutual cooperation between 

 high and grade school departments of edu- 

 cation. 



'In summary, we feel the rural people of 

 Logan county want better educational op- 

 portunities for their children, yet they are 

 practical, hard headed farmers with their 

 feet on the ground and are not prone to 

 listen to any impractical, visionary, theo- 

 retical schemes of consolidation of schools. 



"We appreciate the interest you have tak- 

 en in the movement for the reorganization 

 of the schools and the assistance that you 

 have rendered to us in Logan county." 



Very truly yours, 

 Clem Garton 



Alfalfa hay cured i.i sunlight lost more 



carotene than that cured in darkness or in 

 the shade, according to Kan.sas Station tests. 

 Wind rowing alfalfa soon after cutting aids 

 in retaining carotene, they • found. High 

 moisture and high root reserves were found 

 essential to good seed production with al- 

 falfa, t . ■ " " • , 



* ■ , . •.. ^ .• 



■ ■ .' *". 



Poiiltry range studies by J?ew Jersey Sta- 

 tion researches rev^l that range-reared 

 flocks show a considerable feed saving, espe- 

 cially -in. mash, oveif birds in confinement. 

 Although chickens are said to be without 

 sense of taste, these birds manifestly pre- 

 ferred red top to red clover. ■• 



INTERNATIONAL SHOW 

 PROMISES TO BE 

 LARGEST IN YEARS 



PRIZE lists increased by approximately 

 100 per cent over the 1941 show will 

 be offered on many of the breeds that will 

 be featured at the 1946 International 

 Live Stock Exposition to be held Nov. 30 

 to Dec. 7 at the Chicago Stock Yards, ac- 



A prize list of $6,000 for each of the 

 three major beef cattle breeds — Aber- 

 deen-Angus, Shorthorn, and Hereford — 

 will be offered. A $2,000 classification 

 will be given for Polled Shorthorns, same 

 as in 1941. 



Carlot feeder cattle will be dropped 

 this year from the International's compw- 

 tition. In their place, a show featuring 

 feeder cattle only in carlots will be held 

 at the Chicago Stock Yards, Oct. 28-29, 

 1946. 



Premiums totaling $5,320 will be of- 

 fered in the October feeder cattle show. 

 The cattle "will be shown in four classes 

 — steer and heifer calves and yearling 

 steers and heifers in carlots of 20 head 

 each, then judged and sold at auction. 



With the admission of Hereford hogs 

 to the competition, a new breed of swine 

 will be added. Yorkshire swine are be- 

 ing reinstated. 



The International also will include 

 the junior livestock feeding contest, the 

 collegiate and junior livestock judging 

 contests and the spectacular horse show. 

 Plans are under way for the return of 

 the International Grain and Hay Show, 

 world's largest crop show, which has 

 been one of the important features of the 

 exposition. 



LONG-LIVED TIRE 



TIOW would you like to get 78,642 

 ** miles on your next set of tries? It 

 takes a little more care than the aver- 

 age motorist bothers to take, but it can 

 be done. 



A well-worn Blue Seal Master tire is 

 on display at the Illinois Farm Supply 

 Company office to prove it. And it is 

 not too far gone that you couldn't get 

 another 15,000 or 20,000 miles out of 

 it. 



R. O. Almgreen, • director of ac- 

 counting statistics in the Chicago office 

 of Farm Supply Company, kept track 

 of the hardy Blue Seal casing. 



Its recoi'd, according to Almgreen. 

 includes 78,642 actual miles on the 

 road, including 59,500 on the original 

 tread and 19,242 on a Farm Supply 

 re-cap. And the four-ply 6.5pxl6 tire 

 st^ll retains about two-thirds of the 

 non-skid design of the re<ap. 



IS 





